Internship, Software Engineer, SI Reinforcement Learning (Winter/Spring 2027)

Consider before submitting an application:

This position is expected to start January 2027 and continue through Spring term (ending approximately May 2027) or continuing into Summer 2027 if available and there is an opportunity to do so. We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time (40 hours/week) and on-site, for most internships. Our internship program is for students who are actively enrolled in an academic program. Recent graduates seeking employment after graduation and not returning to school should apply for full-time positions, not internships.

International Students: If your work authorization is through CPT, please consult your school on your ability to work 40 hours per week before applying. You must be able to work 40 hours per week on-site. Many students will be limited to part-time during the academic year.

Internship Program at Tesla

The Internship Recruiting Team is driven by the passion to recognize and develop emerging talent. Our year-round program places the best students in positions where they will grow technically, professionally, and personally through their experience working closely with their Manager, Mentor, and team. We are dedicated to providing an experience that allows the intern to experience life at Tesla by including them in projects that are critical to their team’s success.

About the Team:

As a Software Engineer Intern on Tesla AI’s Reinforcement Learning Infrastructure team, you will help build the systems that make large-scale reinforcement learning fast, stable, and flexible for ML engineers working on real-world AI problems. Your work on RL training infrastructure will support scaling Robotaxi and Optimus.

We're looking for someone with practical experience or strong project/research exposure in RL training infrastructure. An ideal candidate will also have experience in RL techniques that improve both model quality and training performance.

Your work will directly impact iteration speed, system reliability, and the ability of ML engineers to move from prototype to large-scale experiments quickly.

- Build infrastructure for large-scale reinforcement learning
- Experiment with RL techniques that reduce convergence time or improve model quality
- Improve performance and scalability of RL workloads
- Work closely with ML engineers to productionize new methods in our RL framework
- Debug bottlenecks across runtimes, networking, and distributed systems
- Improve system reliability, correctness, and engineering quality across the RL stack

- Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, with a graduation date between May 2027 and December 2027
- Strong programming skills in Python and/or C++
- Experience with RL algorithms and techniques
- Familiarity with ML training frameworks (ideally PyTorch) and RL training frameworks
- A strong foundation in distributed systems and performance engineering
- Experience profiling and optimizing CPU-GPU interactions (pipelining computation with data transfers, etc.)
- Ability to debug difficult problems and make progress with limited oversight

Benefits

As a full-time Tesla Intern, you will be eligible for:

- Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
- Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
- Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans. Both have an option with a $0 payroll contribution
- Company Paid (Health Savings Account) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible Medical Plan with HSA
- Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
- 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
- Company Paid Basic Life, AD&D, and short-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
- Employee Assistance Program
- Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions), and Paid Holidays
- Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
- Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
- Commuter benefits
- Employee discounts and perks program
- Earned Wage Access: Real-time pay access paid daily, subject to eligibility and schedule (applicable for below Sr. Managers levels)
Expected Compensation $100000.00 - $150000.00 + benefits
Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.